With so many people desiring to grab a piece of the “Second Costa Rica”, I guess Panama can now become a little pickier about who can stay. It looks like with the passing of the new immigration law at the beginning of 2008, they want you to be a little wealthier in order to grace their beaches with your permanent presence.
Although the full effects of the law won’t be known until they are officially published and enacted in August 2008, lawyers are already discussing the first draft of the regulations which are circulating for comments before final publication.
Some highlights from Panama Law:
Grandfather – Anyone all ready approved under the old regulations is grandfathered in and unaffected by new regulations.
Permanent Residencies – There are going to be Permanent Residencies after two (2) years of having your temporary one–year visa approved. The bank deposit program is going to be a four-year process. This is essentially similar to what the situation is now.
Small Investors Visa – The Small Investor’s Visa has been eliminated. The only investor visa is for Large Businesses with a minimum investment of US$200,000.00. The small investor visa required $40,000 investment and hiring of three nationals. This is gone. The large investor visa used to be $150,000 and has been raised to $200,000.
Reforestation – There is now only one reforestation visa with the minimum investment of US$80,000.00. It used to be $40,000 and $75,000.
Rentista Retirado – This is the program when one puts enough money into the Panama Banco Nacional for five years to generate $750 a month in interest. This results in a five–year residency.
The regulation does not make mention of the passport benefit. We were verbally told the passport has been dropped but we await the final draft for absolute certainty. At this point we assume no more passports.
Pensionado – Pensionado program, still the same except the minimum pension amount is for US$1,000.00 for the main applicant plus $100.00 for each dependant. The Pensionado program is permanent under new regulations resulting in a permanent residency with the possibility to apply for citizenship in five years. Note we said apply, no assurances of it being granted. There is no minimum age for pensionados.
Person of Means Visa – It is still with us with the option of permanent residency. The amount has been raised to $350,000 from $200,000. The CD in a local bank has to be for four (4) years in your personal name. Real property must be residential suitable for living in (not raw land) and has to be titled in your name free of liens and encumbrances, which indicates that after the (2) years you just have to show that you still have it in your name free and clear to obtain the Permanent Residency.
Employment Visas – Work visas also have stayed with same requirements, except that the minimum salary is also $1,000.00 and they are no longer permanent. One cannot work under a work visa during the application stage. One must wait until it is approved which could be a 60-day wait.
Procedures and Benefits – Some of this is still not yet defined so we are still looking through a foggy window some.
Immigration Police Force – Will be created which have the ability to ask for additional documents during the processing of applications. We do not know exactly what the implications of this will be.
Best,
Mels
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